lacero

Forms

lacerō (present infinitive lacerāre, perfect active lacerāvī, supine lacerātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from lacer (“torn, mangled”) with the verb suffix -ō.^[2][3] De Vaan notes that the verb is attested much earlier than the adjective but is still made from it, and traces ⟨lacer⟩ to Proto-Italic *lak(V)-ro- (“torn, ragged”) and Proto-Indo-European *lh₂k-ro-, beside a nasal present Proto-Indo-European *lh₂-n-k- (“to tear”).^[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek λακίς (lakís, “rent; tatters”) and Ancient Greek λακίζω (lakízō, “to tear”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan gives Plautus as its first author.^[4] In the Mercator a father complains that his own property is badly mauled while another's grows.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Its literal sense is to tear or mangle bodies and limbs, as in a fragment of Ennius, and in grief to tear the cheeks or hair (Ovid).^[2] Of things it is to batter or shatter, and to rend clothes.^[2] It is to torment with pain or hunger (Pacuvius) and with mental anguish, as Cicero's wife harassed with every cruelty.^[2] Figuratively it is to ravage persons, lands or property, to spoil a day with talk (Plautus) or a song by bad singing (Petronius), and to tear someone to shreds with abuse: Cicero speaks of the envy that usually lacerates people.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “rend, tear, wound, lacerate, mangle”.^[5] English lacerate (early 15th century) comes from its past participle.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of ravaging property.^[4][2][6]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius of a mangled body.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of torment and of attacks by envy.^[2][6]
• before 66 AD – Petronius of “murdering” songs.^[2][6]
• early 15th century – English lacerate.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To tear, mangle, lacerate; to tear (the cheeks or hair, in grief).^[2][1][5]
2. To batter, shatter; to rend (clothes).^[2][1]
3. To torment, rack; to distress, harass.^[2]
4. (figuratively) To ravage (lands, property); to spoil (a day, a song).^[2][1]
5. To attack with abuse; to tear (a reputation) to shreds.^[2]

Word family

• dēlacerō
• dīlacerō
• lacerābilis
• lacerātiō
• lacerātor
• lacerātrīx

Related words

• lacer
• lacinia
• lancinō
• English lacerate

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes lacerāre, to tear by mere force with hands, claws or teeth, from laniāre, to tear as with a cutting instrument.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper